High voltage capacitors are commonly used in various medical devices in order to store charge so that electrical stimulation therapy (e.g., defibrillation and/or cardioversion) can be delivered to a patient. For example, defibrillators commonly make use of one or more high voltage capacitors to store charge prior to delivery of high voltage defibrillation therapy to a patient. Defibrillation electrical therapy can be delivered to depolarize the patient's heart and thereby overcome an episode of a potentially lethal arrhythmia (e.g., ventricular fibrillation).
Many different medical devices have been designed with defibrillation capabilities. Examples include the automatic external defibrillator (AED), implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) and the like. Capacitors are commonly used in such medical devices to store charge for delivery of cardiac defibrillation therapy and/or cardioversion therapy, and the like. Other types of medical devices, including medical devices not yet developed, may also implement high voltage capacitors for these or other applications.
Medical devices that provide defibrillation therapy typically include at least the following primary components: a power source, one or more capacitors, at least a pair of cardiac electrodes, and circuitry to control delivery of cardiac therapy. The capacitor(s) typically consume a significant portion of the volume of a medical device, particularly an IMD. Improved medical device capacitor designs are highly desirable, particularly for an ICD, to achieve size reductions strongly associated with patient acceptance and comfort, among other reasons.